The Martin E. Segal Theatre Center at the Graduate Center, CUNY has unveiled the artist lineup and program schedule for the highly anticipated PRELUDE.12, the ninth annual PRELUDE festival dedicated to artists at the forefront of contemporary New York City theatre, dance, interdisciplinary and mediatized performance. In its largest lineup ever, PRELUDE.12 will present more than 40 short performances, readings, and screenings -as well as panel discussions with artists, scholars and performers.

The curators of PRELUDE.12 have collaborated with the Segal Center to offer audiences a completely free survey of the current New York moment and the work being prepared for the 2012/13 season and beyond. PRELUDE.12 is a place to discover what voices are shaping the future of theatre and performance in NYC, to observe, engage, commune, and critique.

To enhance and continue the festival's discourse, PRELUDE.12 has teamed up with Culturebot (www.culturebot.org) and Contemporary Performance (www.contemporaryperformance.org) who will serve as our Critical Partners. These online publications will embed writers within the festival to foster critical dialogue before, during, and after the festival's span.

Caleb Hammons is currently the Producer at Soho Rep, where he oversees all mainstage productions, workshops, and readings. Prior to his time at Soho Rep, he was the Producing Director for Young Jean Lee's Theater Company, where he lead the development and world premieres of three new works by Young Jean Lee as well as tours of the Company's work to 30 cities around the world. Additionally, he is the Co-Curator of the acclaimed Catch performance series. Caleb was member of the Institute for Curatorial Practice in Performance's inaugural class at Wesleyan University.

HeLen Shaw writes about theatre for Time Out New York, teaches theatre studies at New York University, and is the Associate Director of Programs for the Martin E. Segal Theatre Center at CUNY. Her criticism has also appeared in TheatreForum, PAJ, the New York Sun, the Jewish Daily Forward and Playbill, and she has served as a dramaturg for Martha Clarke, Simon McBurney, Lear deBessonet, Francois Rochaix and Janos Szasz.

PRELUDE.12 is produced by Rachel Silverman.

All presentations will be held in the Elebash Hall and the Segal Center at CUNY Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Avenue at 34th Street. Both an opening night cabaret (hosted and curated by Adam Feldman) and a closing night party will be held at The Gershwin Hotel, 7 East 27th Street between Fifth and Madison Avenues.

All programs are subject to change.

The Martin E. Segal Theatre Center (MESTC) is a non-profit center for theatre, dance, and film affiliated with CUNY's Ph.D. Program in Theatre. The Center's mission is to bridge the gap between academia and the professional performing arts communities both within the United States and internationally. By providing an open environment for the development of educational, community-driven, and professional projects in the performing arts, MESTC is a home to theatre scholars, students, playwrights, actors, dancers, directors, dramaturgs, and performing arts managers from the lo­cal and interNational Theatre communities. Through diverse programming-staged readings, theatre events, panel discussions, lectures, conferences, film screenings, dance-and a number of publications, MESTC enables artists, academics, visiting scholars and performing arts professionals to participate actively in the advance­ment and appreciation of the entire range of theatrical experience. The Center pres­ents staged readings to further the development of new and classic plays, lecture series, televised seminars featuring professional and academic luminaries, and arts in education programs, and maintains its long-standing visiting-scholars-from-abroad program. In addition, the Center publishes a series of highly regarded aca­demic journals, as well as books, including plays in translation, written, translated and edited by leading scholars.

The Graduate Center, CUNY, of which the Martin E. Segal Theatre Center is an integral part, is the doctorate-granting institution of The City University of New York (CUNY). An internationally recognized center for advanced studies and a national model for public doctoral education, the school offers more than thirty doctoral programs, as well as a number of master's programs. Many of its faculty members are among the world's leading scholars in their respective fields, and its alumni hold major posi­tions in industry and government, as well as in academia. The Graduate Center is also home to twenty-eight interdisciplinary research centers and institutes focused on areas of compelling social, civic, cultural, and scientific concerns. Located in a landmark Fifth Avenue building, The Graduate Center has become a vital part of New York City's intellectual and cultural life with its extensive array of public lectures, ex­hibitions, concerts, and theatrical events.